John Shearer/WireImage.comMötley Crüe has kick-started legal action against another former manager.
The "Shout at the Devil" purveyors have filed a lawsuit against Burt Stein and his companies B Entertainment and Gold Mountain Entertainment, alleging the companies screwed the band out of large sums of money by putting the manager's interests ahead of the Crüe.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court and a copy of which was obtained by TMZ, claims Stein, who also represents one of the individual bandmembers, "stalled and obstructed" talks Mötley Crüe had with various music-industry folk about recording a new album and hitting the road in 2008.
Among the other allegations, Stein also supposedly scheduled appearances and activities for one of the bandmembers that conflicted with the group's plans to record a new album and hit the road in 2008. He interfered with a separate deal the headbangers secured with a major promoter to headline a 2008 tour by scheduling separate events when the promoter was named as the "exclusive provider" of all Crüe activities on the date of the concerts.
Last but not least, Mötley Crüe accused the manager of misrepresenting the position of a bandmember and refusing to fulfill his fiduciary duties until his own demands were met.
Consequently, Vince Neil, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx entered into a new agreement with a different management company to rep them, terminating their relationship with Stein.
Their complaint seeks a court declaration regarding both parties rights and duties and specifying that their old business partner has no right to receive any commissions from the quartet. The Crüe also asked for unspecified damages.
Reps for Stein and Mötley Crüe could not be reached for comment.
As it happened, Sixx and Mars, the band's respective bassist and guitarist, just settled a separate $20 million suit last month against Carl Stubner, a one-time comanager of the band.
The rockers alleged he became so involved in Lee's career that he damaged the band and drummer's heavy metal cred by having the latter appear on Rock Star: Supernova and Tommy Lee Goes to College, which took him away from rehearsals, recording and touring with the Crüe.